3. A substantial piece of academic writing, usually done
as a requirement for a class, in which the author
does independent research into a topic and writes a
description of the findings of that research.
A formal written report that includes research
findings and a student's own ideas.
Research papers are all about organizing your ideas
in a linear, understandable format.
A research paper is a report summarizing the
answers to the research questions you generated
from the sources you gathered information from.
Then presenting the work in research paper format.
5. Choose a topic which interests and challenges you. Your
attitude towards the topic may well determine the amount
of effort and enthusiasm you put into your research.
Focus on a limited aspect - narrow it down from Religion to
World Religion to Buddhism.
Obtain teacher approval for your topic before embarking on
full-scale research.
Select a subject you can manage. Avoid subjects that are too
technical, learned, or specialized. Avoid topics that have
only a very narrow range of source materials.
A Research Guide for Research Students http://www.aresearchguide.com/1steps.html
6. Consider the following career-focused questions when
researching:
What type of career do you want?
What are the job trends for your area of interest?
What type of education will you need?
What college/school will you go to?
How much will your education cost?
How long will it take you to complete your education?
After college, what career will you have?
What are the job requirements/duties?
What type of company will you work for?
Will you have to relocate? If so, where will you have to
relocate?
Will you be paid hourly or salary? What will be your income
yearly?
Do you have room for advancement?
7. Surf the net
Pay attention to domain name extensions (.edu, .gov, .org) as these
tend to be more reliable. Be selective of .com sites. Learn how to
evaluate sites critically and to search effectively on the Internet.
Check out print materials at the library
Almanacs, atlases, encyclopedias, guides, reports, government
publications
Read and evaluate, bookmark, print out, photocopy and take notes of
relevant information.
As you gather your resources, jot down full bibliographical information
(author, title, place of publication, publisher, date of publication, page
numbers, URLs, creation or modification dates on Web pages and your
date of access) on work sheet, printout, or enter the information on
your computer. Remember that an article without bibliographical
information is useless since you cannot cite its source.
A Research Guide for Research Students http://www.aresearchguide.com/1steps.html
8. Finding the Right Career
http://www.helpguide.org/life/finding_career.htm
ONet http://www.onetonline.org/
Ohio Means Jobs https://ohiomeansjobs.com/omj/
Occupational Outlook Handbook
http://www.bls.gov/oco/
Career Guide to Industries http://stats.bls.gov/oco/cg/
Employment Projections http://www.bls.gov/emp/
Best Careers http://money.usnews.com/money/careers
9. Do some critical thinking and write your thesis
statement down in one sentence. Your thesis
statement is like a declaration of your belief.
The main portion of your essay will consist of
arguments to support and defend this belief.
With the skills and abilities I exhibit, the medical field is the
career path I am interested in pursing.
A Research Guide for Research Students http://www.aresearchguide.com/1steps.html
10. The purpose of an outline is to help you think through
your topic carefully and organize it logically before you
start writing. Include an Introduction, a Body, and a
Conclusion. Make the first outline tentative.
Introduction Share your thesis and purpose clearly. What is
the chief reason for the paper? Explain briefly the major
points and why readers should be interested in your topic.
Body Present your arguments to support your thesis
statement. Remember the rule of 3 find three supporting
arguments for each position.
Conclusion Restate your thesis, summarize your arguments,
and explain why you have come to this particular conclusion.
A Research Guide for Research Students http://www.aresearchguide.com/1steps.html
11. I. INTRODUCTION Brief comment leading into subject
matter - Thesis statement on Shakespeare
II. BODY - Shakespeare's Early Life, Marriage, Works, Later
Year
I. Early life in Stratford
I. Shakespeare's family
I. Shakespeare's father
II. Shakespeare's mother
II. Shakespeare's marriage
I. Life of Anne Hathaway
II. Reference in Shakespeare's Poems
II. Shakespeare's works
I. Plays
I. Tragedies
I. Hamlet
II. Romeo and Juliet
II. Comedies
I. The Tempest
II. Much Ado About Nothing
III. Histories
I. King John
II. Richard III
III. Henry VIII
IV. Sonnets
V. Other poems
I. Shakespeare's Later Years
I. Last two plays
II. Retired to Stratford
I. Death
II. Burial
I. Epitaph on his tombstone
I. CONCLUSION
I. Analytical summary
I. Shakespeare's early life
II. Shakespeare's works
III. Shakespeare's later years
II. Thesis reworded
III. Concluding statement
A Research Guide for Research Students
http://www.aresearchguide.com/1steps.html
12. Organize, analyze, synthesize, sort and digest the information
gathered to effectively communicate your thoughts, ideas,
insights and research finding to others. This is the most
important stage in writing a research paper.
Include only relevant and understandable information. Make
sure you have used your own words and has been carefully
noted. Document all ideas borrowed or quotes used to
avoid plagiarism. Jot down detailed bibliographical
information and it ready for your Works Cited page.
A Research Guide for Research Students http://www.aresearchguide.com/1steps.html
14. A piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your
own work; to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own; to use
(another's production) without crediting the source; to commit literary theft; to present
as new and original idea or product derived from an existing source.
In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work
and lying about it afterward.
All of the following are considered plagiarism:
turning in someone else's work as your own
copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your
work, whether you give credit or not
Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided, however, by citing sources. Simply
acknowledging that certain material has been borrowed, and providing your audience
with the information necessary to find that source, is usually enough to prevent
plagiarism.
16. MLA stands for Modern Language Association, and it is the
standard format for research and term papers. MLA format
includes specific rules for quoting authors, called citations.
It also allows for documenting source authors within the
text of your research paper, called parenthetical citations.
There is also a specific format for creating a Works Cited
page, which is sometimes called a bibliography.
Writers who properly use MLA also build their credibility by
demonstrating accountability to their source material. Most
importantly, the use of MLA style can protect writers from
accusations of plagiarism, which is the purposeful or
accidental un-credited use of source material by other
writers.
If you are asked to use MLA format, be sure to consult the MLA
Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th edition).
MLA Formatting http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/
17. Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x
11-inch paper.
Double-space the text of your paper, and use a legible font (e.g. Times
New Roman). Whatever font you choose, MLA recommends that the
regular and italics type styles contrast enough that they are
recognizable one from another. The font size should be 12 pt.
Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks.
Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides.
Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the left margin.
MLA recommends that you use the Tab key.
Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-
hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin.
Use italics throughout your essay for the titles of longer works and, only
when absolutely necessary, providing emphasis.
If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your
Works Cited page. Entitle the section Notes (centered, unformatted).
MLA Formatting http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/
18. Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested.
In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your
instructor's name, the course, and the date. Again, be sure to use
double-spaced text.
Double space again and center the title. Do not underline, italicize, or
place your title in quotation marks; write the title in Title Case (standard
capitalization), not in all capital letters.
Use quotation marks and/or italics when referring to other works in your
title, just as you would in your text: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as
Morality Play; Human Weariness in "After Apple Picking"
Double space between the title and the first line of the text.
Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last
name, followed by a space with a page number; number all pages
consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), one-half inch from
the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor or other
readers may ask that you omit last name/page number header on your
first page. Always follow instructor guidelines.)
MLA Formatting http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/
19. MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means
that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the
quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete
reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may
appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the
quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in
the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a "spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings" (263).
Romantic poetry is characterized by the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings"
(Wordsworth 263).
Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell
readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of
a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information
about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the
name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:
Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads. London: Oxford U.P., 1967. Print.
MLA Formatting http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/
20. Begin your Works Cited page on a separate page at the end of
your research paper. It should have the same one-inch margins
and last name, page number header as the rest of your paper.
Label the page Works Cited (do not italicize the words Works
Cited or put them in quotation marks) and center the words
Works Cited at the top of the page.
Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between
entries.
Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations five spaces
so that you create a hanging indent.
List page numbers of sources efficiently, when needed. If you
refer to a journal article that appeared on pages 225 through
250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as 225-50.
MLA Formatting http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/
21. Just Sheer Naked Magic
http://www.telecollege.dcccd.edu/library/Module5/
Sample.htm
22. Summarize, paraphrase or quote directly for
each idea you plan to use. Find a
technique that suits you.
Use note cards or sheets of lined paper. Mark
each card with your outline code (IB2a). Then
put all cards in order.
If using a word processor, create filenames
that match your outline codes to easily cut and
past as you type your paper.
A Research Guide for Research Students http://www.aresearchguide.com/1steps.html
23. Read your paper for content errors, check facts,
arrange and rearrange ideas to follow your
outline. Reorganize outline if necessary.
CHECKLIST ONE:
1.Is my thesis statement concise and clear?
2. Did I follow my outline? Did I miss anything?
3. Are my arguments presented in a logical
sequence?
4. Are all sources properly cited to ensure that I am
not plagiarizing?
5. Have I proved my thesis with strong supporting
arguments?
6. Have I made my intentions and points clear in the
essay?
A Research Guide for Research Students
http://www.aresearchguide.com/1steps.
html
Re-read your paper for grammatical errors. Use a
dictionary or a thesaurus as needed. Do a spell check.
Correct all errors that you can spot and improve the
overall quality of the paper to the best of your ability.
Get someone else to read it over. Sometimes a second
pair of eyes can see mistakes that you missed.
CHECKLIST TWO:
1. Did I begin each paragraph with a proper topic
sentence?
2. Have I supported my arguments with documented proof
or examples?
3. Any run-on or unfinished sentences?
4. Any unnecessary or repetitious words?
5. Varying lengths of sentences?
6. Does one paragraph or idea flow smoothly into the next?
7. Any spelling or grammatical errors?
8. Quotes accurate in source, spelling, and punctuation?
9. Are all my citations accurate and in correct format?
10. Did I avoid using contractions? Use "cannot" instead of
"can't", "do not" instead of "don't"?
11. Did I use third person as much as possible? Avoid using
phrases such as "I think", "I guess", "I suppose
12. Have I made my points clear and interesting but
remained objective?
13. Did I leave a sense of completion for my reader(s) at
the end of the paper?
24. All formal reports or essays should be typewritten and printed.
Read the assignment sheet again to be sure that you
understand fully what is expected of you, and that your essay
meets the requirements as specified by your teacher. Know
how your essay will be evaluated, compare to the rubric.
Proofread final paper carefully for spelling, punctuation, missing
or duplicated words. Make the effort to ensure that your final
paper is clean, tidy, neat, and attractive.
Aim to have your final paper ready a day or two before the
deadline.
A Research Guide for Research Students http://www.aresearchguide.com/1steps.html
Editor's Notes
#3: A research paper requires exactly what the name implies---a lot of research. However, it is more than just a regurgitation of facts or an explanation of a topic. A research paper must give a perspective or make an argument. For example, if the topic of a research paper is abortion, then the writer should take a stance on abortion rather than just list the history of abortion. While it does not need to be for or against abortion, it needs to analyze one of these stances.